Meditative Talk: Love For Life, Beyond Who I Think I Am

What happens when the story of “me” begins to unravel? In this deeply human reflection, Tiger speaks to the exhaustion of holding life together—the effort to manage, fix, and figure out what was never asking to be controlled. Beneath the mental noise is something quieter and more honest: life already happening, already whole.

He invites the listener to notice the chase for self-worth, the narratives of not-enoughness, and the way they distort the simple miracle of being here. From the wonder of a forest to stepping in horseshit, Tiger reminds us: nothing is outside the heart of life—and nothing real is missing.

Transcript

What is there,

Beyond all the noise?

In one way,

We could just talk and talk and talk,

And I feel like underneath any anxiety that might be there,

Any pain that might be there,

So often there's this question of,

What is this all about?

What is even going on?

And I completely understand the space or the answer of,

It's all for love,

Silly.

The answer is just not enough,

Because I've got all these things to figure out,

And yet in moments we can touch that sweet space where that answer of,

Just love,

Is totally enough.

And as much as there are moments where I just don't see that,

That it's all for love,

It blows my mind how much the world doesn't see that.

It's all just for love.

It's like our mind has this amazing ability to build these intricate mazes,

Tell so many different stories,

All trying to have it make sense.

I have this visual right now where all of life is just breathing,

Everything breathing,

In-breath,

Out-breath,

Expansion,

Contraction.

But why?

Why?

Look around,

Silly.

But why?

It's such an interesting question when there is not the availability within us to be still and see what's actually happening.

We all know those moments,

Whether it's a relationship argument or something didn't go how you want it to go.

That silence,

That stillness disappears,

And the only thing that matters is the content running around in your mind.

And so,

If anything,

To start this out,

Let's just,

If we can,

Take a moment and honor the experience of being.

Here we are,

Alive.

There's a breath that's moving in and out.

It's not even you doing it,

And it allows you to be here.

Be here in life,

Not in your shitty story.

But here,

Part of this miracle,

A miracle that simply doesn't have to make sense.

You know what it reminds me of?

It reminds me of somebody going into the forest,

In their anxious as they think,

I need to figure out why everything is doing what it's doing,

Before I allow myself to enjoy the beauty of this forest.

Before I can truly just be here and smell the smells and see what I see.

Before I can be fascinated by it all,

I need to figure it out.

I need to zoom in on everything and give it a name.

And yet the child walks into the forest and says,

Oh my god,

Look at this.

This is amazing.

And as hilarious or tragic as it might be,

It's so wild to see that any difficulty I might have in falling in love with the forest is because I'm lost in some narrative about my imaginary self-importance.

That too is fascinating.

That I could possibly think this idea about myself is so much more magical than reality or being right.

And yet,

So obvious that behind all of this noise about who I innocently mistake myself to be,

Is simply an ocean of love,

Asking me if I will celebrate this,

Be in awe of this.

And then I hear that voice,

But it's hard.

Hard for who?

Me.

Me.

There's so many things I'm trying to control.

There's so many outcomes.

I need to look a certain way so that I feel like I'm enough.

There's so many stories I need to hold together.

And God says,

Yeah,

That sounds really hard.

How's it going?

It's exhausting.

Do you want to lay it down?

Do you want to just be here with me for a sec?

I promise you can go back to it later.

You know,

There really is a sort of magic to this,

And maybe it's seen as magic because there simply aren't the words for it.

But a sort of magic that is the resolution to the question of how do I live this human life?

How do I manage all of these responsibilities?

And you know,

When you see this magic,

When you see the answer,

It's almost like the only response is,

Oh,

You know what the answer isn't?

A list of 15 steps.

So often I hear that,

And of course it's all beautifully fine because it's sincere,

But the question's of,

But what about my practical life?

And underneath the question is that hint of anxiety that I hope you see has nothing to do with your life and everything to do with the fear that you're not enough.

Do you see this?

I mean,

My goodness,

Of course you do.

That's why you're here.

Where the mind goes,

But what about this?

And what about this?

And what about this?

And what about this?

What is all of this really about?

Should we solve those 10,

000 things,

Or should we just address what it's really about?

And what is it really about?

I'm temporarily lost in the illusion of who I think I am,

And I see myself as so disconnected from everything,

Separate from the support that is there,

That's waiting to guide,

That's waiting to move through me.

And as I've said a thousand times,

This classic unavoidable fear of not being enough,

My goodness,

Can we just let it be true?

Let it be true that this person we think we are is not enough?

Can we let it be wise and see that what it sees is the truth and it's scared of the truth?

And that's understandable because it's a really big truth that is all-encompassing,

That will burn away every illusion.

You know,

It's like the nature of love,

Where life or God says,

But I love you,

And you say,

No,

I'm not ready,

I'm not lovable yet.

There's so many things I judge about myself,

And God says,

Yeah,

But I love you,

No,

Trust me,

I'm not ready,

Okay,

Okay.

You go try really hard to fix yourself,

And hopefully you will see there's nothing to fix.

Isn't this wild?

I love how we can just show up here and I can say things I've been saying for a decade all over again,

But isn't this wild how,

And just let me say this very slowly,

The belief that you're broken creates broken behaviors.

The belief that you're broken creates an anxiety that races away from the present moment.

It runs away from what you really are.

And the comedy slash tragedy is you're running away towards what you imagine to be a solution,

Which is literally nothing but another story that won't satisfy.

It's like there's literally nowhere to go,

Which of course is why we keep circling back around to see the same damn thing.

I'm already there.

Do you see this in our quest to fix ourselves,

In our quest to become more than,

Or more of?

We're simply running around in stories.

Isn't that fascinating?

Like,

No matter what it seems like we acquire in the world,

It's just another story,

And we're collecting these stories about ourselves,

Which is like stacking clouds on clouds,

Hoping one day it'll be real.

We're running around in imagination,

Thinking it's reality.

It's amazing.

And all the while,

You're not going anywhere at all.

Such an interesting landscape this life becomes,

When you see that there really isn't anywhere to go.

It's almost like recognizing that truly,

Life is about being.

Life is about life.

About what is here,

What is now,

What is alive.

And what you will discover is that within you is the capacity to hold all of your human.

How many times have we said in our human lives,

I can't deal with this.

You dealt with it.

You made it.

This is too much.

But alas,

I understand.

Welcome to being human,

Where we constantly forget these things.

And I hope,

As it does for me,

Taking a moment to honor what is deeply true.

If anything,

Even if just a little bit,

It reminds me that this life is a playground.

And regardless of whatever my pain might be that's showing,

My frustration,

My confusion,

My doubts and my fears,

I always get brought back to this place,

This voice that says,

I just want to love on people.

And of course,

In order to do that,

In some way,

There's the voice that says,

OK,

Can you start with you?

Because my goodness,

How difficult is it to love on people when secretly you hate yourself?

And what is that,

To love on you,

If not a gentle allowing for you to just be?

In this temporary form or expression that might be showing itself,

Even if it is exhausted,

Even if it's lazy,

Even if it's busy,

To allow,

To let the springtime be the springtime and the winter the winter,

Knowing it'll all change,

It'll come,

It'll go.

It's so funny how life gets in the way,

Or even how I apparently get in the way,

As if I'm going somewhere.

And as you see,

You're not going anywhere,

Then everything that is showing is the way.

Every moment is the point of your whole life.

Every moment is the answer to your prayer for love to expand.

And please remember that for all of this to work,

For all of it to do what it needs to do in order for life to be life and for love to be love,

One of the most important elements of it all is that you have plenty of moments where you completely forget all of that.

It is part of it.

Just like the analogy with daytime and nighttime,

It doesn't matter how much you love the daytime,

Nighttime is coming,

But I want to stay awake,

It's so much better,

Well then being tired is really gonna suck.

Life gives you so many opportunities to love all sides of what you are,

All aspects of life.

And I'll end on this silly little story you may not or may have heard,

But I'm just reminded in this moment when I was living in Sweden,

Out on a farm with a bunch of horses,

I was walking through the field one day,

Just appreciating life,

Thinking,

My God,

Everything is so gorgeous.

As I'm walking,

I take a step and I step right in horseshit,

New shoes,

And I think,

Yep,

That's part of it.

You can't have horses without horseshit.

It all goes together.

Reviews

Love this meditation/talk Tiger. 🙏🏼
Being here right now in this moment is very sacred. I'm so grateful for this vessel that my soul encapusalutes. Not always having pleasant experiences in my life.
But also having beautiful ones. If everything was easy, then how would we grow? To acknowledge not only our faults, but our strengths and virtues. 🙏🏼🌀🌌💫
Thank you!

The handle for living, I cannot Thank You enough!

spot on. i especially appreciate the reminder that there will be plenty of times i’ll forget. (i got it, i got it, i ain’t got it lol). and that’s when i need to be the most gentle with myself 🌻🌞🌙💛🌻🌞🌙💛🌻🌞🌙💛

Loved this! Your laugh was a big help , reminding me to not take self (or practice/ the journey) too seriously. Thank you!

And the answer is “oh”…. that landed in my body. Beautiful talk Tiger once again.